Chapter 2 A Woman's Intuition

Lisa was a little surprised. "Dr. Ainsworth, you know the patient's husband?" Talia stared at the familiar face before her, reading the emotions on it—shock, disconcert, panic, but more than anything else, worry for the woman inside the operating theater. No matter how hard Lucien tried to hide it, his distress and urgency still showed. "You're her…" Talia glanced at the operating theater. "Husband?" Lisa beat Lucien to answering, "Yeah, he is. He was the patient's next of kin who signed the consent form earlier." Talia's blood ran cold, and her expression hardened. "I see." Gritting his teeth, Lucien said, "Talia, I'll explain this later." Talia willed herself to calm down and maintain the professional air of a doctor. She took a deep breath and replied, "Don't worry, sir. The surgery went well, and both the patient and her baby are safe. "She'll have to stay for observation for a few days and be put on a drip to save her pregnancy. If all is well, we'll clear her for discharge this weekend." Relief flickered across Lucien's face. "Okay." He paused, then added. "Thank you, Talia." "Don't mention it. As a doctor, I would have done everything I could to save her regardless of who her husband might be." Talia returned to her office and downed a glass of iced water. It took her some time to regain her composure. Ten minutes later, someone knocked on her office door, followed by Lucien's voice. "Talia, it's me." She rose and opened the door for him. He looked a lot better than he had earlier, though his eyes were still rimmed with red, and the worry etched on his face had yet to clear. Talia had been too shocked to notice it outside the operating theater just now, but Lucien's white shirt was splotched with blood, and his clothes were badly wrinkled. He even sported large water stains on his sleeves. There were two possibilities here—either he'd gotten the pregnant woman's amniotic fluid on him when he carried her into the hospital earlier, or her tears had soaked through his sleeves when she cried in the room. Talia spun and returned to her seat, her tone curt as she said, "I assume you've already gone to see her." Lucien nodded slowly. "Yes. She's asleep." "She—" "The baby isn't mine," Lucien said. Talia slumped into the chair like a weight had been lifted off her. "She got into a car crash and was in a critical state. I brought her to the hospital and was later told that she needed surgery. But only her next of kin could sign the consent form, so I…" Lucien trailed off. Talia understood. "I had my assistant get her next of kin's signature." "I know that now." Lucien said, "I couldn't tell you any of this outside the operating theater just now with so many people around. If they found out I wasn't her husband, no one would have been able to sign the consent form on her behalf. Her life mattered more at that moment." Talia finally understood the full story. A twinge of guilt seized her. She should have known that a gentle, grounded man like Lucien would never cheat on her. He must have stumbled upon the accident on his way to the company. He probably couldn't bring himself to ignore a helpless pregnant woman, so he brought her to the hospital. "Have you sorted out the crisis at your company? Don't worry about the patient just now. I'm here to look after her," Talia said. Lucien opened his mouth as if to say something but stopped short. "Talia, I…" "What is it?" Talia pressed. He shook his head. "Nothing. Everything's fine at the company. Are you done with work? I'll wait for you outside. Let's go home together." Talia was free now that she'd wrapped up the surgery, and the nurses could take care of the patient. She shrugged off her white coat and took the pregnancy test results from her drawer, folding it up and slipping it into her wallet. Only then did she grab her purse and leave the office. She was familiar with Lucien's Cayenne and spotted it immediately. She hurried toward it but caught the pungent scent of tobacco from a distance away. Under the dim lights, Lucien's towering silhouette was stark against the night as he leaned against the car. Talia caught the faint, telltale orange glow of a flickering ember. Frowning, she marched up to Lucien and demanded, "When did you start smoking?" Lucien jumped, and his cigarette slipped from between his fingers and fell on the ground. Only then did Talia notice the dozen or so cigarette butts littering the ground—courtesy of Lucien, from the looks of it. He was acting strangely today. "Is something wrong?" Talia asked. Lucien shook his head, but his features were laced with exhaustion. Nonetheless, he opened the car door for Talia chivalrously. "Just company stuff. Get in the car." "Is it serious?" "A minor issue. That's all." Talia slid into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. It wasn't until a moment later that Lucien got into the driver's seat and started the car. He stepped on the gas pedal, but Talia suddenly shouted, "Wait!" Lucien started. "What's wrong?" A second later, the sound of someone cursing came from outside the car. "What the hell, man? Look before you hit the gas, will you? What, you can't see a grown person walking by your car or something? Are you gonna take responsibility if you run someone down?" Lucien had always been a careful driver whenever he picked up Talia from work, which was often. He'd never made a careless mistake like this, but he seemed to be on edge today. Thankfully, the person outside the car dropped the issue and left after cursing at Lucien. Pursing his lips, Lucien started the car once more and merged into the traffic lanes. Talia grew worried. "Are you really okay?" Annoyance and impatience colored Lucien's face. "I said I'm fine." She froze, then fell silent. A few minutes later, she heard Lucien say apologetically, "I'm sorry, Talia. A lot has been going on recently, and I'm not in the best state of mind. I didn't mean to lash out at you." Talia gave a slight nod. "Keep your eyes on the road and drive safely." "Okay." There was a pause, then, "Talia?" "Yes?" "That woman earlier…" Lucien licked his lips, seemingly struggling to get the words out. "The one you operated on—she'll be fine on her own in the hospital, right?" Talia chuckled. "Are you worried about her?" "No, I just… I was only asking." "The nurses on duty will look after her, and the hospital staff will call her family." "What if her family doesn't show up?" "How will you know they won't?" Talia countered. Lucien parted his lips, but he had no answer. But he had his eyes on the road like he was focusing on the traffic, just like Talia told him to. They didn't talk for the rest of the drive, and the sky was beginning to break with the first light of dawn when they reached home. Lucien stopped the car at the door but did not get out. He told Talia through the car window, "Get some sleep. I need to head back to the company to take care of some stuff." Talia nodded. She didn't bother asking if he was telling the truth about returning to the company. A woman's intuition was like a double-edged sword, and could very quickly turn into foreboding. If she were smart, she'd play dumb and overlook Lucien's strange behavior entirely. … Lucien was turning 31 on Saturday. Talia had already made plans with him to return to the Reese estate. She'd been on the night shift the night before and wouldn't get off work until 8:00 AM on Saturday. As she was leaving, Talia opened her wallet to check the pregnancy test results that she'd folded into a small rectangle, no bigger than a matchbox. It lay quietly in one of the folds of her wallet. This was the present she'd prepared for Lucien, and it had been a long time coming. But now, she hesitated to give it to him. She put her wallet back into her purse, then shrugged off her white coat to leave work. At that moment, her phone rang. It was a call from Abigail. "Talia! I just saw your husband bring a pregnant woman home!"